Digital platform Apester raises $5 million in Series A financing

Apester, a digital platform that allows publishers to add interactive features to content, such as polls, surveys, tests and video quizzes, has secured $5 million in Series A financing.

The funding was led by Mangrove Capital Partners with additional investment from Gigi Caplan (co-founder of Wix), Tal Simantov (former AOL CMO), Tal Kerrett (president of Silverstein Properties) and Morris Kahn (Amdocs founder), the New York-based company confirmed in a media statement.

As part of the financing agreement, Roy Saar, partner with Mangrove, will now sit on the Apester board of directors.

“As the evolution of digital storytelling continues, the voice of the reader has been the missing piece to providing consumers with a more complete story and increased influence over the content they consume,” said Moti Cohen, founder and CEO of Apester in statement. He also noted that the demand for video is especially high.

According to its own release, Apester creates, on average, more than 200 million viewer impressions per month across publications. The platform is currently available for free, but, according to reps, there are plans to monetize through branded partnerships and advertising.

Many publishers are looking for quick and inexpensive ways to add short-form video and interactive elements to their content and that’s creating a number of opportunities for tech startups. Just recently, Whipclip announced $40 million in Series C financing. Earlier this year, Wibbitz, an Israeli text-to-video company confirmed its expanding into the U.S. market after securing $8 million in Series B funding.